Multi-Crane Smart Sorting Control System based on 5G and Cloud PLC

With the development of the Industrial Internet, the organic integration of new technologies such as cloud programmable logic controller (Cloud PLC) and 5G with industrial control system has attracted widespread attention. This paper presents a practical technique for designing and implementing the cooperative control of multi-crane based on Cloud PLC. First, a distributed control architecture by using Cloud PLC is proposed to operate together to enhance the system availability and flexibility. Second, Docker, a virtualization technology, is used to realize the distributed deployment and unified management of Cloud PLC. The communication architecture between the upper-level and lower-level C-PLCs based on 5G Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) is designed to ensure high-reliability and low-latency data transmission for collaborative remote control of distributed Cloud PLCs. Finally, a multi-crane smart collaborative sorting application is designed to verify the feasibility of the proposed system. The experiment proves that the network communication delay between the upper-level and lower-level Cloud PLCs is about 10ms, which can ensure the safe and reliable execution of the collaborative sorting application. The proposed multi-crane smart sorting control system based on Cloud PLC can well operate in accordance with the user’s requirements.